Aristocrat claims I did nothing but show her love after killing my daughter as she went on the run to avoid police
A runaway aristocrat accused of murdering her newborn baby told the jury today: “I did nothing but show her love.”
Constance Marten36, and partner Mark Gordon, 49, are alleged to have evaded police for 54 days with baby Victoria after concealing her birth.
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The pair went ‘off-grid’ and lived in a ‘thin and flimsy’ tent in the middle winter – because they feared the toddler would be taken from them, like their other children, jurors heard.
Victoria, who spent “much of her life” in one Lidl bag for life, was later found dead in an abandoned shed as if she were “garbage”.
Giving evidence today, Marten claimed she gave her daughter “the best that any mother would do” despite her living conditions.
When asked by barrister Francis FitzGibbon KC if she did anything to ‘harm’ baby Victoria, she said: ‘Absolutely not.’
The mother was also asked if she had done anything ‘cruel’ to the newborn, to which she replied: ‘No. I did nothing but show her love.”
Marten claimed that, as far as she knew, she had not exposed her baby to the cold and had not let it get too hot.
She told the Old Bailey that Victoria died on January 9 last year and said: “I don’t think this is something I will ever move on from.”
Marten also said she felt “guilty”, adding: “I think initially it was disbelief, shock and intense sadness.”
A manhunt was launched for the pair after their burning car was discovered on the M61 motorway in Greater Manchester on January 5.
Officers found the placenta wrapped in a towel, “new baby” diapers and newborn clothes, as well as “burner phones,” it is said.
But instead of reaching out PoliceMarten and Gordon are said to have instead tried to conceal their whereabouts out of fear that Victoria would be taken into care like their other four children.
Jurors were told the couple chose to “deprive the baby of what she needed” – including “warmth, shelter and food and ultimately safety”.
In the middle of a ‘cold winter and in cruel and clearly dangerous weather circumstances”, the pair went “essentially off-grid”.
Jurors heard they lived in a tent with barely any clothes and no means to stay warm and dry.
Timeline of the baby ‘murder’: How a couple evaded the police
CONSTANCE Marten and Mark Gordon are believed to have sparked a 54-day manhunt across Britain after disappearing with their baby Victoria.
Thus began the couple’s journey…
December 20, 2022
Marten and Gordon booked into a holiday home in Northumberland, with tenancies ending on Boxing Day. The owner told jurors he found the property in “something of a state” on December 28.
December 24, 2022
The couple claims their daughter was born on this day, but this is disputed by prosecutors.
December 28, 2022
Their Suzuki broke down on the M18 motorway, so a recovery driver took them to a nearby Sainsbury’s. There was reportedly no sign of the baby, but the rear and side windows of the car were blocked by clothing.
January 4, 2023
Marten and Gordon checked into the Ibis hotel at Lymm Services in Cheshire and later the AC Hotel in Manchester.
January 5, 2023
The couple’s Peugeot 206 catches fire on the M61 motorway in Greater Manchester. Police are launching an urgent investigation after finding Marten’s placenta, burner phones and passport, jurors were told.
She and Gordon are taken to a Morrisons store in Bolton by a member of the public before being taken seen on camera surveillance at nearby Bolton Interchange station.
The couple is said to have used Marten’s trust for a taxi to Liverpool £400 taxi to Harwich in Essex.
Taxi driver Ali Yaryar, who picked up the couple from Liverpool, told the court: “I don’t think the baby had any clothes on.”
January 6, 2023
The couple arrive in Harwich and check into a Premier Inn around 3am. They later moved to the Fryatt Hotel, where they paid in cash, it was said.
January 7, 2023
Marten and Gordon travel by taxi to Colchester and then to East Ham in London. The couple are said to have bought a buggy from Argos and then taken another taxi to Whitechapel.
They ate at a Brick Lane restaurant and then ditched the new buggy. Instead they opted to keep Victoria in a Lidl bag, jurors heard.
January 8, 2023
The couple spend £475 on a taxi from Hornsey to Newhaven in East Sussex and walk to the South Downs National Park. Marten buys snacks and gasoline with cash but there was no trace of the baby, it is said.
January 9, 2023
Both Marten and Gordon claim baby Victoria died on this day – making her 16 days old, the court was told. It is said that there is no way to know for sure.
January 16, 2023
Marten and Gordon are seen pitching a tent in the Stanmer Park nature reserve in the South Downs despite the cold weather.
February 16/17, 2023
The couple are spotted near Hollingbury Golf Course in the Sussex countryside, reportedly pushing a buggy without a baby. Their tent can later be seen in Coldean Lane in Brighton
A driver saw the pair walking towards Stanmer Park with something under Marten’s puffer jacket, the court heard.
February 19, 2023
Gordon and Marten were reportedly seen in their tent in the park with a very young baby with a “wobbly” head. Jurors said the baby was not wearing socks, a blanket or a hat.
February 27, 2023
The couple are arrested at Hollingbury Place in Brighton but do not initially reveal Victoria’s location, it is said.
March 1, 2023
Tragic Victoria indeed found dead in a Lidl bag covered in rubbish in a disused shed “like rubbish”, the court is told.
With “barely” food, Marten and Gordon remained on the run, failing to seek medical attention or even register the birth as they moved from “location to location”, it was said.
The couple denies manslaughter by gross negligence, concealment of the birth of a child, cruelty to a person under 16 and perverting the course of justice.
They also deny causing or permitting the death of a child between January 4 and February 27 last year, an alternative charge to manslaughter.
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